Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has accepted and certified Boulder County's report of results for the federal and state government posts on last month's primary election ballots, despite a canvass board majority's refusal to certify the county clerk's abstract of votes cast.

The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder's Office, meanwhile, has separately certified the results for the county government posts on the primary ballots — county commissioner, county clerk, county sheriff, county treasurer, county assessor, county coroner and county surveyor.

County Clerk Hillary Hall cited a state election rule that she said requires the secretary of state and the county clerk to certify the election if the canvass board fails to certify results that have no reasonable potential to change the outcome of any race or ballot measure.

On July 7, the two Republicans and two American Constitution Party representatives on the seven-member canvass board weren't willing to certify any results, citing what they said was the inadequacy of the materials and records the clerk's office was willing to give them to use in making the board's decision whether to verify the accuracy of those results.

Official certification of the abstract of votes cast in the June 24 primary was supported, however, by the three Democrats on that panel — County Clerk Hall, an incumbent Democrat up for re-election, and the two canvass board members specifically appointed by the Boulder County Democratic Party.

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Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert said in a written statement that because the canvass board failed to certify the abstract of votes, the Secretary of State's Office "reviewed the county's results for all offices of state concern."

Offices "of state concern," according to Andrew Cole, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, include the federal and state government posts on Boulder County voters' primary ballots, but not the county government offices on those ballots.

Staiert said in her written statement that "having concluded that the county's results have no reasonable potential to change the outcome of any race," Secretary of State Scott Gessler "has certified the state portion of the abstract of votes cast" in Boulder County.

Hall and her staff said on Tuesday that the county clerk's office had certified the abstract of votes cast for the county government contests.

"Having completed the official election vote reconciliation and audit of our election, we know our election was conducted accurately," Hall said in a statement.

"Our audit, one of the most extensive in the country, confirmed the results of the primary and our reports clearly show that proper vote credit was given and ballots counted were less than or equal to ballots cast," Hall said. "There are no gaps in the data."

Staiert said that on July 8, the Boulder County Clerk's Office had submitted the county's complete abstract to the Secretary of State's Office, "along with supporting documents, including a certification document signed by three of the seven members of the canvass board and a non-certification document signed by the board's other four members."

Gessler, a Republican, also eventually accepted the Boulder County results from the 2012 general election, although a 4-3 majority of that election's local canvass board — again, the two Republicans and two American Constitution Party members of that post-election panel — also had refused to certify those results.

Republican canvass board member Al Kolwicz, who led much of the panel majority's opposition to certifying the results, could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Boulder County American Constitution Party chairwoman and canvass board member Mary Eberle said she wanted to examine the election rule being cited by the secretary of state's staff before she could comment.